Author: SKYNEWS

Sir Michael Craig-Martin is one of the most influential artists of his generation – but he says he’s had “terrible things” said about the work he’s now famous for.The 83-year-old’s long career is now the subject of a major retrospective opening this weekend at the Royal Academy. But he told Sky News: “I’ve had terrible things said about all the work that now people think is wonderful… If you can’t survive criticism… you’re in the wrong game.”The Royal Academy retrospective brings together his life’s work in one show, including his early experimental sculpture, his landmark conceptual work and a new…

The boss of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, will attend the new government’s flagship investment summit next month amid suggestions it is struggling to attract large numbers of high-calibre international business figures.Sky News has learnt that Larry Fink, BlackRock’s chairman and chief executive, will attend the 14 October gathering, which will be held at a prominent central London venue. Mr Fink, who was also present at a similar event organised by the Conservatives in 2021, will be among the most influential global bosses to attend.Among the others who have agreed to come are Margherita della Valle, the Vodafone chief…

The family of an NHS pharmacist who took his own life after suffering paralysing complications from a COVID jab are calling for urgent reform of the government’s compensation scheme for vaccine damage.John Cross was told by the official medical assessor for the scheme that the jab had caused his rare neurological effects, but that he wasn’t disabled enough for a payment. Mr Cross was unable to move, blink or breathe after his first dose of the vaccine.He spent seven months recovering in hospital but was left with chronic pain and numbness – and suffered several relapses.After he was rejected by…

Convicted con artist Anna “Delvey” Sorokin has made her debut on Dancing With The Stars – sporting a sparkly ankle monitor.The so-called “fake heiress”, who swindled Manhattan’s elite out of huge sums, took to the dancefloor on Tuesday as the US TV show returned for a new series. Sorokin defrauded banks and New York City big names to the tune of around $67m (£61m) to fund her jet-setting lifestyle – and was later jailed.Prison did nothing to dent her fame, however, with the Netflix series Inventing Anna debuting on the streaming site while she was still behind bars.Now she’s back…

Thousands of construction industry jobs are at risk as ISG, a construction group that builds prisons and police stations, faces imminent collapse.Sky News has learnt that Whitehall officials are lining up City advisers to work on contingency plans for ISG, which is expected to formally appoint administrators on Friday. EY is on standby to handle the insolvency proceedings.Money latest: Millions already buying mince pies ahead of ChristmasConstruction industry sources said that government officials were closely monitoring the crisis at ISG, which is expected to be the biggest casualty in the sector since Carillion collapsed in 2018. ISG employs about 2400…

A curator at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds has spoken to Sky News about going viral in an entertaining cross-generation TikTok video.”Serving curatorial realness fr [for real]” is how the social media video that has amassed more than four and a half million views is described. Curator Mark Murray-Flutter spoke to The UK Tonight with Sarah-Jane Mee about the video, in which he joked he had turned over scriptwriting duties to a Gen Z employee.In it, he used popular Gen Z slang terms such as “slay”, “pop off queen”, “main character energy” and more, to describe the museum and…

Coronation Street star Geoff Hinsliff has died aged 87, ITV has said. The actor was best known for playing Don Brennan on the soap from 1987 to 1997. He died last weekend. Helen Worth, who plays Gail Platt in the show, paid tribute to Hinsliff on behalf of Coronation Street and ITV, saying: “Geoff was a lovely, quiet man who will be sadly missed by us all.”His partnership with Lynne Perrie was something rather special and they gave the viewers huge pleasure for many years.” Image: Hinsliff with Lynne Perrie, who played his on-screen love interest Ivy Tilsley on the soap.…

The owner of the UK arm of the restaurant chain TGI Fridays (TGIF) has gone into administration, putting 4,500 jobs and 87 outlets at risk.Hostmore, which runs the UK franchise for TGIF, has appointed administrators and delisted its ordinary shares after struggling to find a “lasting solution” to save the business amid heavy losses and mounting debts, it said on Wednesday. The hospitality company has already tried to balance its books by deep cost-cutting, pausing its expansion programme, management changes, and selling outlets.It has put 87 of the chain’s restaurants on the market and hopes to complete a sale by…

British scientists have stored DNA information for an entire human on a crystal, which could be used to bring back humanity if we become extinct.The team from the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) used lasers to inscribe the data on a 5D crystal, which they said can survive for billions of years. Unlike other storage formats, it does not degrade over time.In a statement, the university described the crystal – equivalent to fused quartz – as one of the most “chemically and thermally durable materials on Earth”.It can withstand massive forces, extreme temperatures and “exposure to cosmic radiation”.…

An actor has claimed he was the victim of “police misconduct” after allegedly being pepper sprayed in an “unlawful arrest”.Reece Richards, who appeared in the hit Netflix series Sex Education and is currently touring in Hairspray The Musical, said he was thrown to the ground during a police chase on 4 September following a performance of the stage show in Fulham, southwest London. He said the incident made it “painfully clear that racial profiling remains a significant issue”.Responding to a post and footage shared on social media, the Met Police said officers had been pursuing three men who ran from…